Guardians Of The Galaxy Set Photo Reveals A Cool Spaceship And A New Alien Race

As the timer counting down towards the release of Guardians Of The Galaxy gets closer and closer to zero, director James Gunn has been more and more giving with details and insight regarding the film's genesis. Recently, he's been posting on his official Facebook account like there's no tomorrow, detailing the hard road of post-production he's currently enduring. Yet somehow, between the color corrections and the 3D tweaking, he's found time to indulge in his inner Marvel nerd. His latest photo from the set of Guardians Of The Galaxy is all the evidence you need to support that conclusion.

As you'll see above, courtesy of James Gunn's Instagram feed, a new set photo has found its way online, featuring a badass-looking spaceship and the following caption:

"Onboard half a Necrocraft (organic flight machinery at its finest) with a couple of Sakaaran soldiers in tow."

If the Sakaarans sound familiar to you, you'll know that they're the race hailing from the planet of Sakaar. They are the citizens that The Hulk himself becomes the king of within the famous Planet Hulk arc from the comics. That said, don't get too excited about this, as Marvel and others on their behalf have gone out of their way to deny that particular story will be a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's immediate future.

The point is, James Gunn knows Marvel. He knows Marvel enough that he'd include even the slightest reference to something as obscure as a race of aliens that non comic fans would have to Google search to find information on. It's not exactly a flashing sign post to the future of Marvel's post Guardians Of The Galaxy or even post Avengers: Age Of Ultron plans, but it's something that could hook even the most pedestrian fan into researching and discovering a comic arc they might want to read independently of the films. Going that extra mile not only keeps people interested in the movie, it keeps them invested in the universe that surrounds it, which is important for the entire future of the genre.

If James Gunn has put half as much attention to detail in making Guardians Of The Galaxy as he has in the process of selling the public on its very premise, we're looking at a really good movie on that alone. Lucky for the world at large, it looks like Gunn has exceeded that metric, and could very well have provided the audience with the next series of films that, like The Avengers before them, will open the Marvel Cinematic Universe up to bigger, brighter possibilities - possibilities that will take everyone watching light-years into unknown space.

Guardians Of The Galaxy opens on August 1st, but don't forget that you can sign up to see 17 minutes of the actual film a little bit earlier on July 7th.